Chapter 10 - The Plan After Birth
The DELIVERY folder was worse than the guardianship petition.
Margaret had prepared for what happened after the baby arrived.
There were printouts about postpartum psychosis.
Draft emails describing Emily as confused and dangerous.
A list of local psychiatrists.
And a handwritten timeline.
DAY 1: EXHAUSTION.
DAY 2: PANIC.
DAY 3: DANIEL REQUESTS EVALUATION.
Emily read it twice before understanding what she was looking at.
“She was going to make me look insane.”
Rachel nodded. “That appears to be the theory.”
Daniel stood by the window.
“Why?”
Emily laughed bitterly. “You still need to ask?”
His face tightened.
Rachel answered anyway. “Control. Potential guardianship. Possibly financial control if Emily was declared incapacitated.”
Daniel turned. “Financial control of what?”
Emily looked at him.
There was one thing she had never told Margaret.
One thing even Daniel only partly understood.
“My grandmother’s trust.”
Daniel frowned. “The education fund?”
“It became mine when Grandma died last year.”
“How much?”
Emily hesitated.
“About 3.2 million.”
Daniel stared.
“You never told me it was that much.”
“I was going to after the baby came. I wanted to use part of it for his future.”
Rachel leaned forward. “Does Margaret know?”
“She shouldn’t.”
Then Emily remembered something.
Two months earlier, Margaret had opened a piece of mail addressed to Emily.
She claimed it was an accident.
It had come from the trust administrator.
Emily felt cold.
Rachel asked for the trust documents.
They reviewed them that evening.
If Emily became legally incapacitated, her spouse could petition for temporary management authority.
If Daniel was unavailable or declined, the court could appoint another qualified family member.
Margaret had been building a story in which Emily was unstable and Daniel was overwhelmed.
Emily whispered, “She wasn’t only trying to take the baby.”
Daniel looked sick.
“She was trying to take everything.”
Rachel’s phone buzzed.
She read the message.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“Your mother was arrested thirty minutes ago.”
Emily exhaled.
But Rachel was not finished.
“She made one phone call from booking.”
“To Thomas?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
May you like
Rachel turned the screen around.
“To a family court judge.”
